Court makes error over paedophile sentencing

A CONVICTED paedophile has had his sentence increased by a further two years.

But Ramsey Ramsey, 79, of Grange Road, Newton, Chester, will serve less time in prison after the court made an error in telling him he would serve two-thirds of his sentence.

Ramsey was last week convicted of 36 counts relating to the grooming and sexual abuse of girls under 16 in the 1980s and 1990s.

He was found guilty unanimously by a jury of 16 counts of rape, 11 of indecent assault, three of procuring a child for sexual intercourse, three of making indecent images of children and three of indecency with a child under 14.

Yesterday, Chester Crown Court heard the judge, Recorder John Benson QC, made an error when sentencing Ramsey to 14 years in custody and telling him he had to serve at least two-thirds of his sentence – or nine years and three months.

The court heard the law changed in 2012 when the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (2012) came into force. The court had erroneously used the guidelines from the Sexual Offences Act (2003).

Recorder Benson QC resentenced Ramsey to 16 years in prison. He was told he would serve at least half his sentence in prison, or eight years – one year and three months less before he is eligible for parole.

Recorder Benson QC said: “It is my responsibility to get it right and I did not. The sentence I originally passed was a reduction on the one I had originally had in mind because it was my incorrect understanding he would serve two-thirds of the sentence and the defendant is 79 years of age.

“The guidelines in this case are between 13 and 19 years custody. My initial conclusion would be that he should serve 16 years.

“Given he was 79 he would have been 90 before release. I have decided in the circumstances I should vary the sentence.

“I do so by varying the sentence by increasing the sentence for the rape charges to 16 years.

“Ramsey, you will serve half that sentence before you are eligible for release and you will be on licence for the remainder of the sentence.

“The sentence is longer but the release date is brought forward by one year and three months.”

The assaults took place in Ramsey’s home in Chester, the Bombay Palace restaurant on Upper Northgate Street, Chester, where he was a manager; and in another flat he owned on the Promenade in Southport.

The court heard over the course of the 12-day trial from five women who fell victim to Ramsey.

They all claimed they had been groomed by him after he befriended them and gave them gifts, food and alcohol before being taken to his flat on the

Promenade, Southport, where he sexually abused them.

Prosecutor John Wyn Williams told the court the girls, who for the most part did not know each other, were “vulnerable and easily manipulated”.

Two of the women told the court Ramsey sold them to others for sex. They all said he took pictures of them on a polaroid camera.

Some pictures were indecent and were found in his home along with letters from two of the victims which were written when they were in school and had references to sex with Ramsey.

During the trial Ramsey told the jury how he was a much loved personality in Chester and all victims were “liars” who were “desperate for money”.

At his first sentencing hearing, Recorder Benson QC, said Ramsey had not shown an “ounce of remorse”.

He said: “Your inflated view of your celebrity status and wealth made you think you were untouchable. Justice has caught up with you because of the bravery or your victims.

“You have not shown an ounce of remorse. You have sought to discredit your victims and the police in, an at times, a most breathtaking fashion.

“You asserted that all of your victims had collaborated to tell wicked lies about you. At times it was character assasination and the jury have seen through it.”